When I last left off (again. I appear to be very verbose), I was giving up the safety of the known path, which admittedly led up a hill I had no desire to go up, for the unknown of a residential area. Which turned out not to be laced with bike trails. Maybe that was some other area on the map. I can only remember so many directions at once.
So, now I'm in the middle of nowhere. The trees are all like ten feet or so, meaning it's a fairly new development, and all the duplexes look exactly the same. There is more variety in the mailboxes. Which makes me wonder. Why are the mailboxes not all the same? Did they really make all these houses without mailboxes? Or when you moved in, did you get to choose between a standard, a square, and one decorated with bunnies and pansies? Seriously, there were too many bunny/pansy prints for it to be a coincidence Unless the residents of this strange place all go shopping at the same time.
I did have to go up a hill, but it seemed considerably less doom than the other one I was avoiding. And I managed to find my way out without going up to anyone and asking, "Which way to civilization?" It wasn't all bad. It was actually really quiet, and some people were out gardening. And some of the duplexes were built up against an area that had trees of a decent age, making them not look quite as abandoned. There were also little paths that said "Walking Path Only." I'm sure they must have been lovely, but at the time I was miffed about the discrimination. What, path, too good for bikes? Just a "no motorized vehicles" sign wasn't good enough for you? I passed a few more of these hater paths on the way out. The place was called Stonebrook.
And I came out and still didn't know where I was. Bloomington road? To quote Gandalf, "I have no memory of this place." For whatever reason, I decided to go right, as in west. Oh yeah, I thought I might come to the entrance of Brookside park at some point if I could get south a bit more. But the road kept going and going and I didn't see any major ways south. They all looked like those residential house traps that turn into loops that don't go anywhere. I saw a water tower that looked really familiar though. I'm not normally in the parts of Ames that have water towers. This one said, "Welcome to Ames."
I start to see a Casey's and a Fareway I never knew existed. Finally, I see Stange Road. I recognize that vaguely. It's the one that goes into campus, right? So I should be north of campus now. And I want to go south. I know Stange connects with 13th at some point.
But now, I'm getting really weirded out. I pass a bunch of houses that could have come out of Edward Scissorhands suburb, except they're not pastel. Doesn't look like Ames to me anymore. If I hadn't passed that water tower, I might have started questioning if I got stuck in some small Iowa town I never knew about before. And then I start passing what looks like a Main Street area that somehow got torn up from wherever it originally grew and planted out here in the semi-middle-of-nowhere. Why is there this main street area out here? And then I start passing apartments that look like they were modeled off of ones in cities except there is no city, and then a strip mall that I don't know if I've ever seen before. I start to wonder if I'm in some sort of Twilight Zone when I finally hit 24th.
The sign on the way out says Somerset. Aha! Wait, I still don't know what that means. The only time I ever go above 24th is when I go to the mall. But I know I've heard of it and I've seen that sign before.
But now that I'm on 24th, I know where I'm going and therefore quit thinking so much about the trip. It all gets kind of off in my own world after that. Except for the mental conversation on what order I will go to the library, Wheatsfield, and Fareway. I want to go to the library for books on herb gardens, Wheatsfield for $3.99 wine, and Fareway for a few things for supper. I had been planning on going to Wheatsfield first, but I'm pretty sure that someone somewhere will be unhappy about me bringing wine into Fareway that I didn't get there. I'm not real sure of alcohol licensing, but I think that was one of the things people get uptight about. So I end up deciding to skip the library for today and go to Fareway first. And they had $3.99 wine. Score!
And that is why biking in Ames is dangerous, kids.
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